Animal feed
Sampling is carried out on a random basis, and approximately 50 feed samples from different feed categories are analysed each year. Between 2017 and 2025, a total of 506 feed samples were analysed. These included single-ingredient feedstuffs (such as cereal grains), premixes, additives (such as minerals and vitamins) and compound feed (consisting of several single-ingredient feedstuffs and additives). Compound feed includes, on the one hand, complete feed, which is suitable for fully meeting the nutritional requirements of a specific animal species (for example, poultry or pigs), and, on the other hand, supplementary feed, which accounts for only a small proportion of the total feed consumed.
In the analysis of animal feed, the radionuclides caesium-137, radium-226 and thorium-232 are of particular significance.
Caesium-137 was detected in 9 per cent of the samples. Most of these samples were of organic origin, and the caesium-137 probably originated from the radioactive fallout following the Chernobyl disaster. The activity concentrations of caesium-137 ranged from 0.2 to 12.46 Bq/kg.
Radium-226 is a naturally occurring radionuclide formed in the decay chain of uranium-238 and found in uranium-bearing minerals. Radium-226 was detected in approximately 41 per cent of the samples. Activity concentrations ranged from 0.4 to 97 Bq/kg. The highest values were found in mineral feedstuffs, premixes and additives.
Thorium-232 is a naturally occurring radionuclide found in minerals such as monazite and thorite. Thorium-232 was detected in around 25 per cent of the samples, with activity concentrations ranging from 0.3 to 97 Bq/kg. As with radium-226, the highest levels were measured in mineral feed, premixes and feed additives.
In 2025, the focus of the measurements was on cattle feed. Hay, as well as mineral and supplementary feeds, were examined in particular. The highest value for radium-226, at 6.2 Bq/kg, was measured in a mineral compound feed. For thorium-232, the highest value, 16.2 Bq/kg, was found in a hay sample. The artificial radionuclide caesium-137 was detected in 13 of the 25 hay samples analysed, with a maximum value of 12 Bq/kg. None of the measured values are of concern from a health perspective.
Fertiliser
Fertilisers are used to supplement the supply of nutrients for crops. In addition to heat, light, air and water, plants also require nutrients for their growth. These nutrients are often not present in the soil in the optimal form or quantity for utilisation. On the one hand, they are leached out of the soil or removed from it in considerable quantities by the crops being grown. The supply of plant nutrients through fertilisation makes it possible to replace the nutrients that have been lost. Further general information on fertilisers can also be found here.
The radionuclides contained in fertilisers can be taken up by the cultivated plants and thus enter the food chain. We therefore regularly analyse fertilisers as part of our laboratory-based environmental monitoring programme. This involves analysing different types of fertiliser (mineral and organic), as well as growing media (soils) and plant additives (such as rock dust). Mineral fertilisers contain nutrients in the form of salts that can be taken up directly by plants (for example, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). Organic fertilisers consist of natural raw materials such as compost, farmyard manure or slurry. The nutrients they contain are converted in the soil by microorganisms.
We analyse around 50 fertiliser samples each year. Between 2016 and 2025, a total of 466 samples were analysed. The radionuclides analysed include both natural radionuclides such as potassium-40, radium-226 and thorium-232, as well as the artificial radionuclide caesium-137.
In 2025, the highest levels of radium-226, at 533 Bq/kg, were measured in a concentrated phosphorus fertiliser (triple superphosphate). The highest level of potassium-40, at 15,390 Bq/kg, was found in a mineral potassium chloride fertiliser. The highest level of thorium-232 was detected at 78 Bg/kg in rock dust (a soil amendment). Caesium-137 was found only in two samples, in extremely small quantities.
In Austria, approximately 100 kg of fertiliser (mineral fertiliser) is applied annually per hectare of conventionally farmed land requiring fertilisation. If only the fertilisers with the highest measured concentrations were applied, this would result in the following activity levels per square metre: 5.5 Bq/m² for radium-226, 154 Bq/m² for potassium-40, 0.8 Bq/m² for thorium-232.
The radioactivity applied is negligible and poses no health risk.
Last updated: 07.08.2026
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